Grammarly vs ProWritingAid
Updated Jul 18, 2026 · pricing verified for both tools
ProWritingAid Premium is cheaper at $120/year than Grammarly Pro at $144, but Grammarly wins for everyday writing across every app you use. Pick ProWritingAid to self-edit long-form fiction — 25+ reports cover pacing, echoes, sensory detail, and readability, and a one-time Lifetime licence at $399 ends the subscription entirely. Pick Grammarly for real-time correction in browsers, desktop, mobile, and Office. Grammarly's free tier is genuinely usable; ProWritingAid's caps checks at 500 words.
- Grammarly starts at
- $0
- ProWritingAid starts at
- $30/mo
- Grammarly free tier
- Yes
- ProWritingAid free tier
- Yes
Prices verified against the official pricing pages: Grammarly on Jun 22, 2026, ProWritingAid on Jul 8, 2026.
Side by side
| Dimension | Grammarly | ProWritingAid |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free tier; Pro $12/mo billed annually ($144/yr), or $30 month-to-month | ✓ Free tier; Premium $120/yr ($30 monthly), Premium Pro $144/yr, Lifetime from $399 |
| Free tier | ✓ Grammar, spelling, punctuation, tone detection, and 100 AI prompts per month | 500-word check limit and 2 runs per report per day |
| Depth of analysis | Grammar, clarity, tone, rewrites, plus plagiarism and AI-text detection | ✓ 25+ reports covering pacing, echoes, sensory detail, readability, and Chapter Critique |
| Real-time experience | ✓ Live inline correction as you type across browsers, desktop, mobile, and Office | Report-driven — running the full suite on a book-length file takes noticeable time |
| Platforms | ✓ Web, desktop, mobile, and browser extensions, plus Word and Google Docs | Web, desktop, and extensions, plus Word, Google Docs, Scrivener, and Apple Pages |
| One-time purchase | Subscription only — no perpetual licence at any tier | ✓ Lifetime Premium at $399 and Lifetime Premium Pro at $699, paid once |
| API access | No public writing API; Enterprise exposes admin-side APIs only | No public API |
Pricing, verified
Grammarly
FREEMIUM| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Free | Free |
| Pro | $12/mo |
| Enterprise | Custom |
ProWritingAid
FREEMIUM| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Free | Free |
| Premium | $30/mo |
| Premium Pro | $36/mo |
| Lifetime Premium | $399 |
| Lifetime Premium Pro | $699 |
When to pick Grammarly
- You write in a dozen places a day. Grammarly corrects inline across browsers, desktop, mobile, Word, and Google Docs, so email, Slack, and documents all get the same treatment without opening a separate app.
- You want a free tier you can actually live on. Grammarly Free covers grammar, spelling, punctuation, tone detection, and 100 AI prompts a month, while ProWritingAid’s free plan stops at 500 words per check.
- You need to check provenance. Pro at $12/month billed annually includes both plagiarism detection and AI-text detection alongside full-sentence rewrites — ProWritingAid does not offer either.
When to pick ProWritingAid
- You are editing a manuscript, not a message. The 25+ reports cover pacing, echoes, sensory detail, sentence variety, and readability, and Chapter Critique gives structural feedback on plot and character that a grammar checker cannot.
- You would rather not rent your tools. Lifetime Premium is a one-time $399 and Lifetime Premium Pro is $699, which pays for itself against Grammarly’s $144/year in under three years — and Grammarly has no perpetual option at all.
- Your work lives in a novelist’s toolchain. ProWritingAid integrates with Scrivener and Apple Pages in addition to Word and Google Docs, and Premium removes the word-count ceiling and report-run limits entirely.
Bottom line
These tools have drifted into different jobs, and the free tiers show it. Grammarly is a live assistant: fast, everywhere you type, and useful without paying, which makes it the better default for professional and everyday writing. ProWritingAid is an editing suite you sit down with: its 25+ reports are genuinely deeper than anything Grammarly produces, but running them across a book-length file is slow, and the 500-word free cap makes it closer to a demo than a plan. On price, ProWritingAid Premium is $120/year against Grammarly Pro’s $144, and its $399 Lifetime licence is the cheapest long-run option either company sells. Note the monthly trap on both: paying month-to-month costs $30 at Grammarly and $30 at ProWritingAid, so the advertised prices only apply if you commit for a year. If you are a novelist, buy ProWritingAid. If you write emails, docs, and posts all day, buy Grammarly.
Frequently asked questions
Is Grammarly better than ProWritingAid?
ProWritingAid Premium is cheaper at $120/year than Grammarly Pro at $144, but Grammarly wins for everyday writing across every app you use. Pick ProWritingAid to self-edit long-form fiction — 25+ reports cover pacing, echoes, sensory detail, and readability, and a one-time Lifetime licence at $399 ends the subscription entirely. Pick Grammarly for real-time correction in browsers, desktop, mobile, and Office. Grammarly's free tier is genuinely usable; ProWritingAid's caps checks at 500 words. Updated Jul 18, 2026.
Is Grammarly cheaper than ProWritingAid?
Yes — Grammarly starts at $0 versus $30/mo for ProWritingAid. Prices verified against the official pricing pages: Grammarly on Jun 22, 2026, ProWritingAid on Jul 8, 2026.
Do Grammarly and ProWritingAid have free tiers?
Yes — both do. Grammarly has a free tier (the Free plan). ProWritingAid has a free tier (the Free plan).
Can I use Grammarly and ProWritingAid on mobile or via an API?
Grammarly runs on the web, desktop, mobile, a browser extension and does not list an API. ProWritingAid runs on the web, desktop, a browser extension and does not list an API.